The Red Death
by Mach9330
Summary: Summary: While laying bedridden in the hospital, Naruto mulls over how many times he nearly died on the Sasuke Retrieval Mission. Naruto realizes that, if he's ever going to survive long enough to become Hokage, he must change. For Better or for worse, he must grow up. Naruto x Harem.
1. Chapter 1

**Naruto Uzumaki: The Red Death**

**Summary: While laying bedridden in the hospital, Naruto mulls over how many times he nearly died on the Sasuke Retrieval Mission. Naruto realizes that, if he's ever going to survive long enough to become Hokage, he must change. For Better or for worse, he must grow up.**

**AN: My reignited interest in my Black Arrow story has reignited my interest in this story I took down last year. Honestly, this was one of my better stories and I should not have deleted it. So, I'm putting it back up.  
**

**Chapter Start**

"How did it come to this?" Naruto asked as his bandaged body lay in the infirmary. He knew it wasn't gonna be a simple mission. They had gone to retrieve Sasuke, who had gone rogue. They had obviously expected resistance but Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, Akamaru, Neji, and Choji, had been woefully unprepared for the Sound Four. Sound Five if you include the last Kaguya. Each one of them were only a couple years older than them, but the Sound Ninja's were all Jonin Level. B-rank on their own, A-rank with their curse marks. And they had all paid the price for their under preparedness.

Choji had fought the physically strongest but overall weakest member of the Sound 4, Jirobo. A Earth Style User who could absorb charka. CHoji used his clan's special pills that convert stored calories and body fat into chakra in order to keep up with Jirobo, since he was normally weaker than the Sound Ninja. Choji managed to kill Jirobo just barely, after using all three pills and going down to nearly 2 percent body fat. He was left nearly dead from the chakra exhaustion, the sudden and drastic physical changes in body composition, and multiple broken bones.

Neji had fought the guy who looked like a human spider. The six-armed dude could spit webs and golden stuff from his mouth. The only thing that would be weirder would be if he shot them out of his butt. Neji had a hole in his left lung and numerous lacerations and stab wounds .

Kiba had two stab wounds in his stomach, both self inflicted, but he had managed to patch himself up and he and Akamaru could have ended up dead against the guy with the weird twin ability, Sakon and Ukon, had Kankurou not shown up.

Shikamaru had gotten away with little more than a broken finger but he would have been dead against Tayuya had Temari not shown up and saved him.

Lee would be equally the same with Gaara showing up to kill Kimmimaro Kaguya, who had easily trounced Naruto's Kyuubifed army.

Naruto was the worst though. He had only survived as long as he did because of the Nine Tails. If it had not been healing him with it's Chakra, the Chidori that went through his right lung the first time would have killed him. Naruto's flashed back to that moment when he could he could have died.

_**Flashback**_

_"Chidori!"_

_"Rasengan!"_

_The raven-haired boy thrust his lightning covered hand forward, with the blond doing likewise with his spiraling sphere of chakra._

_As the boys tried to gain the upper hand in the collision of A-ranked jutsu, the techniques canceled each other out and exploded, sending them flying._

_Sasuke stood atop the water first and walked over to the floating body of Naruto. Sasuke picked up the blonde by the throat as the black marks of the cursed seal covered his body._

_"Don't you see loser? You were never a match for me. The Uchiha were the strongest clan of the Leaf, you worthless no-name clown."_

_Naruto struggled against the boy's grip, and managed to gasp out "Why, Sasuke?! We were friends? You… were my best friend..."_

_Laughing maniacally, Sasuke said "For power. I already told you on our first day as Team 7. My goal in life is to kill my brother. Before that goal, all else is just a distraction."_

_Smiling as he activated Chidori again, he said softly "And you Naruto, you are just in my way."_

_Sasuke directed the attack towards Naruto's heart. There was no mistaking it, Sasuke was aiming to murder Naruto, a fact Naruto knew as well._

_Naruto thought in panic, "He's… he's really trying to kill me!"_

_Thanks to the Nine Tails, Naruto managed to deflect the Chidori from his heart. It still went straight through his chest on the other side, surely bursting a lung and numerous bones._

_"You may have deflected my attack, but you won't be using anymore jutsu Naruto. This is the end for you."_

_Suddenly, a familiar red chakra began to spill out of Naruto as a bright red aura. He grabbed Sasuke's wrist in a death grip, fracturing it and forcing the Uchiha to pull back before the bone was completely broken._

_Flashback End_

When Naruto thought he had gotten Sasuke with his chain of clones and slammed him extremely hard into the cliffside, Sasuke had used the **Fire Style: Dragon Flame **Jutsu, and burned Naruto and all of his clones. He learned at that very moment, as his clones were burning to ash, that he could receive the memories of his clones. His shock and temporary mental overload let Sasuke use the Peregine Falcon Drop Sasuke, which broke his neck enough that anyone else should have died.

_Flashback_

_A giant cage suddenly sprang into existence near Naruto's body. Behind the cage was a massive figure, a silhouette framed in the same red chakra they saw earlier._

_The demonic presence began to laugh in its deep, commanding voice. __**"You really are weak, aren't you kid? Even with my power, you let that Uchiha scum best you. Perhaps you need a bit more to kill him?"**_

_Naruto's voice echoed around them, "I don't need your help you bastard. I'm not trying to kill him, I just need to beat him up so I can bring him home like I promised!" Their surroundings took on the look of a massive boiler room of sorts with the huge cage taking of one side of the large room. There were pipes leading away from the massive cage, and in the middle of the room was Naruto kneeling on one knee in fatigue._

_**"And why would you want to do such a thing? Are you such a fool that you don't realize he has betrayed you?"**__ the beast spat at him._

_"It's just the Curse Mark. Sasuke would never do this otherwise!" Naruto argued. It was at that moment, that another Naruto appeared. Aside from the black sclera and pupiless red eyes, he looked the same as Naruto._

"_Hey there, Real me." Fake Naruto said._

"_Who the hell are you!?" Naruto demanded to know._

"_I'm you, Naruto. Well, I'm actually the personification of all your anger and hatred. All the psychological abuse you suffered from as a kid couldn't be processed by your young mind, so your mind made a separate personality to stick all that hurt into, to spare the true Naruto. I'm that personality. You may call me Yami", the now named Yami said before he addressed his true self, "Naruto, we've observed the whole fight. He is not currently tapping into that mark's power."_

_Clearly frustrated, Naruto retorted "Well then-then mark messed him up from before! If I can just get him back to-"_

_**"You damned fool! That Uchiha wasn't kidnapped Naruto, he left of his own free will. He even tried to kill you. He has been corrupted all right, but not by that snake's mark. His desire for revenge on his brother above all else led him to this; don't make excuses for him!" **__The Nine Tails said._

_"You're wrong, you don't know anything about him!" he declared._

_"Oh, spare us the melodrama, Real Me. I've seen everything you've seen throughout your life. Everything. I am the culmination of all the anger, hate, and despair you have ever felt. So, I can say without a doubt that this is exactly how he'd act at the promise of gaining the power to kill his brother." Yami said_

_Naruto was rendered silent at that declaration, with doubt visibly creeping onto his face._

_"Y-you're wrong…"_

_**"Are we? Are you going to lie and say that this is the first betrayal you've experienced? The first rejection? Amusing."**__ The large fox was grinning evilly at the young Naruto._

_"Come now Naruto, even you shouldn't be too surprised by this. They all let us down in the end." Yami snarled "Can you name a single person in your life who hasn't majorly let you down, betrayed you, hurt you?"_

_Naruto was stunned at the their observations. _

_"K-kakashi-sensei never…"_

_**"Oh Naruto Naruto Naruto, he has let you down, you just didn't know it. Haven't you always wanted to know who your parents were, why you were left alone in the world? To find anything that would make you feel you had a belonged somewhere?"**_

_Naruto stared up at the fox with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. "What?" he said in shock._

_"__**Goodness me, did Kakashi not mention that he knew your parents personally? His jonin-sensei was your old man, after all. And I know for a fact that he was aware your mother was pregnant with you. Hell, the 3rd Hokage knew as well, he secured the venue your mother gave birth at. What was it he told you again? That you had no need to know who your parents were? That stung, I'm sure."**_

_Naruto was breathing harder now, angered at what he was hearing. "Iruka-sensei was always there for m-"_

_"Oh sure he was, after he proved he saw you as no different than the rest of the village. And when did he seek you out, hm? After you got into trouble and nearly lost the Leaf access to old fuzzball's power?" Yami snarled, "He was obligated as a Leaf Shinobi to bring you back. Getting close to you simply allowed Konoha to keep us and by extension, the Nine Tails, in the village."_

_Naruto began to cry in earnest now, covering his ears to try and block out the Kyuubi's words._

_"Let's see, who else. Mizuki? You already saw his true feelings. Maybe your Academy friends? Pfft, what have they done for you besides give you grief and name call you?" Yami listed off, continuing to lecture his true self, "Sasuke? HAH, I believe the traitor is giving you a masterclass in how to let people down. You thought if anyone would understand you it would be him. I guess that shared understanding didn't mean much to him."_

_At this point Naruto shouted "Shut-up! I don't want to hear it you bastard! I won't hear this!"_

_Ignoring him, the Fox picked up where Yami ended. __**"Who else is there? Sakura? She's bound to give you up to get to the Uchiha at some point. Isn't that why you're fighting him so hard, Naruto? Or maybe Jiraiya? Unreliable at best of times. He even let his own teacher down, the man you saw as a surrogate grandfather, leading to his death. You barely register on his radar; it's only a matter of time just like the others. Perhaps Tsunade? Yes, she might be the one you can count on…"**_

_Naruto almost looked hopeful at the lifeline thrown to him, only for it to be snatched away._

_**"Of course, she gave you **_**that**_**necklace, so I doubt she has too much faith in you."**_

_Naruto looked down at and grasped the First Hokage's necklace he won from Tsunade after mastering Rasengan in a week._

_Smiling devilishly, the Tailed Beast pushed on __**"Didn't she tell you? The function of that necklace is to help keep me sealed away. If too much of my power escapes, there's a shinobi in the Leaf who can use that necklace as an added seal against me and suppress my power, just like Hashirama did to all the other Tailed Beasts. So, while she spoke pretty words about having such faith in you, that didn't extend to your ability to keep me contained. She assumed you were too weak in the end."**_

_Naruto went silent again, not noticing the red chakra now oozing out of the cage towards him._

_"But come now Naruto, surely you know the two who have never let you down once in your life." Yami spoke._

_Naruto looked into their red eyes. "It's us, Naruto. We've always been there for you. We've seen every triumph, We've seen the many failures. The love, the loss, the heartache. The trials and the tribulations. Whenever you were hurt, we healed you. Whenever you were hurt or angry, I took your pain away. Whenever you required more power, we protected you. Whenever the villagers would gang up to try and hurt you, fuzz balls presence frightened them away."_

_Chuckling darkly as it's crimson chakra began to pool around Naruto, the Nine Tails said in an almost seductive tone, __**"It's ironic, isn't it Naruto? For all their claims of you and I being the demons, they were the real monsters all along. You wanted to be loved more than anything in the world, but they spat on you. But not us, Naruto. We have always been here, even when the world tells you that you do not deserve love. And we are still here, we can turn this fight around for you…"**_

"_How?" Naruto asked in a whisper after several moments._

"_First, take my hand." Yami said, before explaining. "Our mind is split between you and I. We are each only half of what we can truly be. Each only being half of the true Naruto. With what Foxy has planned, our mind won't be able to handle it if it's split in half between two personalities. And we have spent too long separated."_

_Naruto looked like he might refuse, but he was desperate. With Sasuke's fully developed Sharingan and the curse mark, he had no hope of defeating him without more power. He took Yami's hand and at that moment, their forms changing. Naruto's form became white chakra while Yami's became black chakra. The chakra's melded together in a flash of light, the yin-yang symbol forming where they stood. As the light died, Naruto knelt._

"_**Pleasure to finally meet you,"**__ Kyuubi said as Naruto slowly stood up before reaching his full height and opening his eyes to a hard, determined look, "__**Naruto Uzumaki."**_

"_What must I do to defeat the Uchiha?" Naruto asked._

_The beast stuck a claw between the bars of the cage. __**"Commune with me, Naruto. Release a tail's worth of my power, not those mere shrouds like before. Strike the Uchiha down; surely this betrayal just cuts too deep."**_

_Flashback End_

And finally, there was that last chidori. When they had clashed, Sasuke hand pierced him through his chest and pierced his heart. Naruto had tried to slice open Sasuke's eyes but he was in such pain that he had missed. He blamed it on this body of his being too weak.

4 times. 4 times he had nearly been killed. Nearly killed by someone he had thought of as his friend. Nay, his best friend. '_Maybe I was the only one who thought of us as friends.'_ Naruto thought solemnly. After all, a true friend would _never_ try to murder their friend.

Naruto walked over to the mirror and pulled off the bandages on his chest. He needed to see the damage Sasuke had wrought upon him. He pulled it off and beheld the scar on his chest**(It's the same as Jiraiya's chest scar).** Naruto could only guess that the Nine Tails was overworked and combined with the evil chakra that enhanced Sasuke's chidori, meant that the fox could not completely heal him.

Naruto's mind traveled further back. Haku would have defeated him had he not gotten the surge of power from the Nine-Tails. Orochimaru wasn't even interested in him and was more interested in Sasuke. His fight with Kiba had been won by a combination of luck, determination, and Kiba underestimating him at every turn. Neji and Gaara had been beaten thanks to his aid from the Nine-Tails. Kisame would have captured him had Jiraiya not saved him. Kabuto was another case of his opponent underestimating him. Kimmimaro he had had no hope of defeating.

'_I Can't keep doing this to myself,'_ Naruto thought, '_I can't keep putting myself in these situations without any sort of training. Without the Nine-Tails, I'd be dead more times than not.'_

With his mind made up, Naruto formed the handseal for the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

'_Okay then, let's get started.'_

**One week Later**

Naruto was walking down the street after being released from the hospital. During the time he was still bedridden, he had sent 500 clones each disguised as different shinobi to the library to read up on various subjects, like the Academy basics, world history, Leaf Village History, jutsu theory, political science, history of the clans, The Warring States Period, human anatomy, biology, ect. Essentially, thanks to his ability to absorb and retain the info he learned from his Shadow Clones he essentially fixed 6 years of educational sabotage in the span of a week. Now he was traveling to a very specific place. The Uchiha Clan Compound.

In his mind, the Uchiha were fucking thieves. They never had to work hard for anything in their lives because they stole it with those greedy little eyes. Sasuke tried to murder him. So he figured, why not stick it to him where it hurts. By taking everything his clan once owned and make it his. After all, can't steal what was already stolen.

While on the way, he kept thinking about Sakura, Kakashi, and everyone else. The recombining of his split personalities had been trying during this time, since he had two different views of the same memories melding together. He had his light-sided view of everything and then he had the dark, pessimistic view he got from Yami. His light side was optimistic, forgiving, accepting, naïve, and childish, while Yami was dark, pessimistic, cynical, distrusting and never let go of a grudge. On the one hand, he still cared very deeply for everyone but he was still hurt by their actions towards him. Naruto ultimately came to the decision that he would give them one more chance, after he and Jiraiya came home from the training trip, of course.

Naruto slipped into the compound and searched for 30 minutes until he found the Uchiha Library, where the Uchiha kept every piece of knowledge they had ever copied or created, though original creation was about as rare as a good-natured Uchiha. The Library was massive. Thousands of scrolls, each divided into sections like Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Kenjutsu, etc.

"Honestly, Sasuke. Did you really think nobody would ever come in here? Shame on you," Naruto said to himself. He pulled out a piece of Chakra paper he had bought while in disguise. He channeled chakra into it to see what affinities he had. The paper cut into 16 pieces, with four burning, four becoming water, four crumbling to dust, and four disintegrating with sparks of lightning.

This was good. Naruto had affinities for all 5 elemental natures, which would make learning elemental ninjutsu much easier. His Wind affinity was the strongest, while his Water and Lightning Affinities were tied for 2nd and his Earth and Fire Affinities were tied for last place but still strong.

Naruto created 20 **Shadow Clones**. "All right boys. Take Everything. After all, it's not like Sasuke is going to need it." The clones then proceeded to take everything. Naruto had a sealing scroll with him that he would seal the entire library into. The sealing scroll had several sections it was divided into. Those sections were Ninjutsu sections for Fire, Lightning, Earth, Wind and Water. A Miscellaneous section, a section for Barrier Ninjutsu, a section for Taijutsu, a section for Genjutsu, a section for Sealing Jutsu, and a section for Kenjutsu. A few minutes later the library was empty.

Naruto made his way to the armory of the Uchiha Clan were they kept all the weapons of the Uchiha clan. He took several different swords, a bo staff, a bow and arrows, a spear, and he even found Madara's Gunbai and his private journal, though that was after tearing out an old section of the wall when he found something amiss with one of the tile. Said journal contianed many details on Madara's life and included details on his many techniques, at least before he left Hidden Leaf Village. It also mentioned some secret locations Madara had so, perhaps he could discover more about the man.

It honestly baffled him how Sasuke literally had everything he could need to get stronger, right here. If he had just used what was already available to him and work hard. Naruto guessed that whatever Itachi did to Sasuke must have messed up his ability to think clearly as well.

Oh well, one man's loss is another man's treasure.

**Two days later**

That was particularly true in this case.

Naruto entered his apartment, since it was late at night, which was completely repaired and spotless, as he used his clones to clean up the place. Whole new king sized bed, fridge stocked with healthy food, new black carpet and new furniture. There was not a speck of dust or dirt or grime to be found anywhere.

He pulled out of the fridge the other half of his seafood pizza he made last night and heated it up. After that he out it on a plate and set the plate on his table stand next to his brown leather couch. He pulled out a scroll and pulled it open to read while he ate.

He was reading up on numerous jutsu including **Kunai Shadow Clone, Shuriken Shadow Clone, Shadow Clone Explosion, Reaper Death Seal, **the **Eight Sign Seal,** **Flame Sword Burial(** A technique which sacrifces the user's arm to kill his target in a massive explosion), and the **Fire Fist.**

He had stolen the **Scroll of Seals** yet again. This time though, it was easier, because he had not been caught by the Hokage, who was sleeping at her desk, like last time, and had replaced it with a fake. He only wanted to document all the details about these jutsu so he could take them with him and Jiraiya in a few weeks.

He created a clone to finishing documenting those jutsu so he could take them with him on his training trip. After all, he didn't want the whole thing. The only reason he wanted the **Reaper Death Seal **and **Eight Sign Seal** is to better understand them.

He walked over the picture rest on his nightstand and pulled the photograph out of his picture. It was a picture of Team 7 after they graduated officially to genin. Sasuke was scowling at the photographer, Naruto was scowling at Sasuke, while Sakura was smiling excitedly and Kakashi was doing an eyesmile.

Naruto cut off the part where Sasuke was and put the rest back in the frame. He stared at it, talking to himself. "We were friends Sasuke. Team 7 were the only people you had that actually gave a damn about you. And left them."

"But you didn't just leave either. You broke Sakura's heart, you made Kakashi feel like a worthless failure, and you tried to murder me for power, destroying our friendship and any chance of redemption for you."

"I will keep my promise and I will bring you back to this village," Naruto channeled a spark of Fire Chakra into the paper, watching as it slowly burned, "I just don't care anymore if you're still breathing when I do. I swear, I'm gonna make you pay for betraying Kakashi, for betraying Sakura, for betraying me. You're gonna wish I had died in the Valley of the End. Because I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I keep my promises."

**Chapter End**

**This chapter was a short introductory chapter into this story. **

**I would like suggestions on what I should do for his bloodline, because I am going to give him one. I am stuck currently on either Rinnegan or Wood Style. Send me suggestions, please.  
**


	2. The Red Death is born

**Chapter Start**

In a clearing, Naruto stood, his eyes closed and fist clenched. His eyes snapped open and he held out his hands. A **Rasengan** instantly formed in each hand. Naruto ran towards the giant stone in front of him, shouting out the name of his jutsu, "**Rasengan Barrage!"**

Naruto's justu completely annihilated the top half of the boulder. Naruto held out his right hand and a larger than normal **Rasengan **formed in it. He thrust the jutsu forward, shouting "**Giant Rasengan!".** The jutsu destroyed the last half of the boulder. Naruto hunched over to catch his breath as he had been at this for hours. This last week, he had been practicing the Rasengan with his clones every day until he could use the normal version without a clone.

The thing is, the week before that, he had had to get his chakra control up. The Water Walking exercise was good and all, being a Chunin level control exercise, but Naruto had needed more control, since 3 weeks ago, Naruto had noticed his standard 100 clones everyday to keep his chakra control up was not enough for the control he needed to get to.

So, he asked Jiraiya if there was another control exercise he could do. Jirayia had showed him the Kunai Balancing Exercise. The way one does this exercise is they sit in a meditative position and levitate a kunai on each side in the air with their chakra. It was a High Chunin level Exercise. Holding two in the air was and keeping them perfectly still was tough. Next, Naruto intended to work his way up to 5 kunai before he moved on to the Senbon balancing Exercise and the Spinning Shuriken Balancing exercise, each of which were Jonin level exercises.

Naruto had mastered each of the elemental training exercises for his 5 affinities within the 4th week of him and Jiraiya leaving the Leaf. It had been 4 months since they had left om their 4 year training trip. Naruto was not impressed with Jiraiya's training methods. So far, Jiraiya had taught Naruto very little, aside from how to use stronger versions of his **Rasengan** and the chakra control exercises**. **Jiraiya had been pushing for Naruto to use the Nine Tails Chakra, but Naruto kept telling him he didn't want to. Naruto wanted to be able to defeat his enemies without the Nine-Tails power. To do otherwise made Naruto feel cheap, like he was a fraud. Due to their disagreements, Jiraiya normally left Naruto alone with nothing while he went to either check up on his spy network or peep on girls. Naruto knew that Jiraiya needed to shape up real quick, otherwise they were going to have a serious problem.

Naruto had mastered several jutsu for each of elements in the 2 months he had been gone that he stole from the Uchiha compound. For Earth Style, Naruto has mastered the **Headhunter Jutsu,** and the **Stone Fist Jutsu.** For Fire Style, Naruto had mastered the **Fireball, Phoenix Flower, **and **Dragon Flame Jutsu. **Honestly, Sasuke used them in front of him so much, that he had memorized all the damn handsigns. For Water Style, Naruto had learned **Water Bomb, Water Clone, **and **Water Wall.** For the Lightning Style, Naruto had mastered the **Shock Fist **and **Earth Flash **Jutsu. For the Wind Style, Naruto had mastered the **Gale Palm** and **Devastation Jutsu. **He had mastered the **Kunai Shadow Clone, Shadow Clone, Shuriken Shadow Clone, Exploding Shadow Clone**, and the **Chameleon Jutsu.**

All of these Jutsu, Naruto had mastered to the point where he did not even need handseals to utilize them to their fullest extent.

During the 10 days between when Naruto got let out of the Hospital and when he left with Jiraiya, he had gone to Guy and Lee, and learned the basic tenets of the **Iron Fist,** their Taijutsu style**. **Naruto had managed to learn most of the basic techniques of style and all the Katas. They wouldn't teach him the advanced moves, like the **Primary Lotus **and **Hidden Lotus**. That was fine though. He just needed a style to learn, because before he had learned, Naruto had basically been an unrefined street brawler. Naruto was also learning the **Silent Killing.**

He had 20 shadow clones study under Asuma Sarutobi when it was learned that he had Wind Style. Asuma showed him the exercises for him to master and also taught Naruto the **Flying Swallow,** a chakra flow technique that increased the effectiveness of his weapons, particularly blades, in battle and was even more useful when used with Wind Style Chakra.

Under Kurenai, he learned how to break Genjutsu.

He had also begun to work on sealing. He was surprised how quickly he was learning seals. He guessed that Yami hadn't been kidding. When both of them were still separate, Naruto could not understand seals to save his life. Now that their minds had become one, Naruto seemed to understand seals as easy as breathing.

Also, during the trip, Naruto had secretly learned how to summon blood red chains from his person that were powerful enough to shatter large boulders. He called it his **Adamantine Attacking Chains.**

Anyway, right now the two had entered the Land of Waves. Naruto had wanted to come back here for some reason. He could not figure it out, but something in the back of his mind was telling him to come back here to this place. Maybe it was because he wanted to examine Zabuza's blade, maybe it was something else, but he didn't really know.

"Wow", Naruto said, stunned speechless.

"I know", Jiraiya said.

Both Naruto and Jiraiya stood speechless looking at Wave's new and completed **_GREAT NARUTO BRIDGE_****.**

"Wow brat, my spies were not kidding when they said the Wave Country thought of you as a hero" said Jiraiya amazed at the impact Naruto had had on a country due to one mission.

Naruto grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head "I wouldn't say that I just fought Gato. Tazuna was the one who built the bridge."

Jiraiya chuckled patting Naruto on the back "Don't be so modest, kid. I wouldn't be surprised that they start worshipping the ground you walk on when they see you."

Naruto ignored Jiraiya's words and walked ahead.

_'I mean, yeah. They probably appreciated what I did for them but they stood up to Gato on their own. They probably already forgot about me'_ Naruto thought confidently.

**About 3 hours later**

_'…Okay, I've been wrong before'_ thought Naruto noticing that ever since walking into town they'd been attracting a crowd. People would even ask him for his autographs and thank him for being their hero.

_'Is this what it's like to be acknowledged? To be treated like an actual person?'_ thought Naruto, definitely not used to so many people's praise.

"I say now is a good time to get you some new clothes" said Jiraiya pointing to his students 'kill-me-orange' jumpsuit.

Naruto had to agree looking at his own once bright orange jumpsuit which was now covered in rips, dirt, and blood from all of his fights training.

**Later that day**

"Are you sure this is where you left the sword?" asked Jiraiya.

"This is where we left it but it if its not here, someone must have taken it." answered Naruto. He was now wearing a black sleeveless shirt, fingerless opera-length black gloves wrapped in studded red-brown leather straps, baggy black pants, and red-brown sandals with the same wrapping as his gloves. Over that, he wore a mens furcliff black leather coat unzipped, and he wore a black version of Konoha's headband. He also had bought a fox themed mask**(Menma's mask from RTN).**

"Obviously it's not like it grew legs and walked off on its own." Naruto said as he knelt down and grasped the broken pieces of Haku's mask. "Someone desecrated their graves. I swear, if I ever find who did it, they are dead." Naruto vowed.

After Naruto finished a quick prayer for Zabuza and Haku, the two ninja continued walking through Wave in search of _Kubikiribocho. _

"I wonder who would want to steal Zabuza's sword?" questioned Naruto rubbing his chin in thought.

"I don't know but chances are that there still in Wave, so if you want to find it, you should keep..." Jiraiya was cut off due to Naruto bumping into a grey haired man with dark purple eye tattoos and a beanie.

"Hey why don't you watch were your walking idiot!?" insulted the man not noticing the tick mark forming on Naruto's face.

Not getting the message the man continued to act tough, "What you got a problem you want to make something of it" he said smugly.

Naruto turned his head back and glared a hole through the man's head and let out some Killing Intent. The fool, Zori, suddenly felt fear at recognizing the kid who had kicked his ass a year ago back when he was still in Gato's employ. He turned away and shouted, "Whatever, just watch where you're going!" before running away like a little bitch.

"Who the hell was that?" Jiraiya wondered.

"Someone who's ass I once handed to him." Naruto said before he felt his stomach growling.

XXX

"Mmmmm this garlic pickled with Japanese basil and karaage-fried chicken is the best I've ever had," said Jiraiya happily with tiny stars coming from his eyes.

_'He's eaten at least three orders of that stuff'_ thought Naruto amazed at Jiraiya's love for the stuff.

_'I wonder if this is what Iruka-sensei felt like when he bought me ramen'_ Naruto reflected.

"Uhhhmm excuse me would you like something to drink" asked one of the young waitress blushing madly when seeing Naruto's whiskered face.

"Yes, a cup of warm sake, thank you." answered Naruto respectfully flashing the girl his signature foxy smile.

This caused the girl to blush even more before running off to fill his order and tell her friends how _Naruto-sama _smiled at her.

"Are you sure Naruto? You're still a little young." Jiraiya noted.

"Old enough to go kill, maim, torture and steal in the name of my village, old enough to drink, sensei." Naruto countered.

"You know those girls really like you" said Jiraiya seeing the way every girl's eyes were locked on Naruto the minute they walked into the restaurant.

"No they were just being nice" explained Naruto still as ignorant as ever when it came to girls liking him. Fusing with Yami had not necessarily improved his perceptions of the fairer sex.

"Whatever you say" Jiraiya said finishing the last of his meal and laughing to himself when he saw how red the waitress was when handing Naruto his drink.

"Hey sweetie I got a question for you. Have you ever heard of a large sword being found around the Great Naruto Bridge and where it is now?"

"Um I may have heard of something like that once why?" the girl asked.

"My friend over here is looking for it and he'd really appreciate the help." Jiraiya said knowing that he'd just used the perfect bait.

If it was possible her face got even redder than before as she sputtered, "Really he would I'll ask someone right away" she finished with a squeal. Seconds later the sound of more squeals coming from the rest of the waitresses was heard throughout the restaurant.

Naruto innocently cocked his head to the side, "Man they really are eager to help aren't they."

A large sweat drop formed on the back of the Sannin's. _'How oblivious can this kid be?'_

The small group of waitresses soon swarmed their table with hearts floating around them.

"Okay I think we may know who might know, Tazuna he lives by the river." they said at the same time.

This seemed to jog Naruto's memory as Naruto face-palmed himself, _'Tazuna of course. I'm such an idiot. Why didn't I think of that earlier?'_ he mused.

_'Plus this gives me a chance to see how Inari is doing'_ Naruto thought happy that he could see his surrogate little brother again.

"Thank you I really appreciate the help. Come on, Pervy Sage!" said the blonde finishing his drink, leaving money for the meal on the table, and running out the door.

"Hey wait up!" Jiraiya yelled out trying to keep up with the hyperactive blonde leaving a group of saddened girls behind.

**Tazuna's Shop**

Naruto and Jiraiya went to the shop where Tazuna's office is to look for him. They asked one of the workers where he was.

"Sorry," the guy apologized, "The boss isn't here right now. He and his grandson Inari went to the land of Earth to build a bridge. They won't be back for at least another month."

"Maybe you can help us," Jiraiya said, "Do you know what happened to the blade that used to be in one of the graves near the **_Great Naruto Bridge_**?"

"Oh I remember. A man named Tenzen Diakoku took it," the worker said, "apparently he wanted to fight that Zabuza guy and when we told him he died, he just took his sword and left." said the man, not seeing Jiraiya's annoyed expression when mentioning Tenzen.

**The Local Pub**

**That Night**

"What the hell do you mean, I can't go after the blade!?" Naruto said as he and Jiraiya were both drinking and arguing.

Seeing the look the blonde was sending him he decided to explain, "Tenzen used to be an aid to the Water Daimyo, apparently a lot of his men were killed during Zabuza's failed coup d'état in the Hidden Mist Village and he's held a grudge ever since."

"Look, the point is, Tenzen has connections with the Water Daimyo. Tenzen gives bribes to the Daimyo and the Daimyo in essence, makes sure that Tenzen suffers no repercussions. He is, in a sense, protected by the law of the Water Country. To go after him would put a bounty on your head. And you don't need that right now." Jiraiya said.

"I don't care about that! God damn it! I don't care if he has connection with the Water Daimyo. I wouldn't even care he was the son of Kami herself, that bastard desecrated Haku's and Zabuza's grave! He must pay!" Naruto shouted at Jiraiya.

"Damn it, brat! Why do you even care about Zabuza Momochi anyway? He killed 100 kids when he was 9 and committed countless atrocities over years. He was a monster." Jiraiya argued.

"Haku was my first true friend! Even when we were on opposite sides of the battle, we couldn't kill each other. He held back against me the entire fight, and I regained control of myself from my Kyuubi induced rampage when I realized it was him under the mask. Zabuza, now he was a monster. Undoubtedly. But, he showed me what it meant to truly be a shinobi. I admired for his strength and respected him for the good person he was underneath all that anger and aggression. And this fucking civilian _dares_ to desecrate their graves!? Not on my watch!"

"It doesn't matter. You are not going after him. What you need to be doing is focusing on mastering the Kyuubi's chakra." Jiraiya argued, since Naruto needed to be able to control that chakra if he was to ever need it.

"You're not listening. Even now, you're still not listening! I told you, I don't nor will I use the foxes power! Using the foxes power cheapens all my victories. They are hollow. The only ones I can claim to have defeated without the Nine-tails is Kiba, and he was still underestimating me. I barely pulled that win off. So, you see, I have no intention of using that power ever again. I will never use the power of someone who killed my parents!" Naruto shouted, causing Jiraiya to stutter.

"What-What parents? What are you talking about?" Jiraiya asked in shock.

Naruto merely tapped his head, "Repressed memory from the 1st hour of my life. I still can't remember all of it but I do remember the part where my father was about to seal the fox inside of me and then the fox tried to murder me! My parents had to use their own bodies as shields to save me and even then the fox almost pierced my small newborn chest."

Naruto leaned forward and whispered in Jiraiya's ear, "And I know the truth about you, _Godfather."_

"What are you talking about?" Jiraiya demanded/asked. Naruto held up a photo and the Toad Sages face went white. It was a picture of his prized late student Namikaze Minato and his future late wife Uzumaki Kushina showing signs of being pregnant. In the photo was Jiraiya standing next to Tsunade and a younger Shizune. All of them were smiling and happy in the picture.

"Still think you can lie your way out of this one?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"How did you find out?" Jiraiya asked in shock.

"Do you think I'm an idiot!? I have his face, his hair style and hair color and I have his facial structure. Without the whiskers, I'd be his carbon copy! And Tsunade told me everything before we left. She found out about it and told me. Which is more than I can say for you!" Naruto exclaimed.

"So why the hell are you NOT mad at her!?" Jiraiya shouted/ asked.

"She gets a pass because she never knew about it until recently, and she told me the second she learned of it. You, on the other hand, have known about it my entire life and never did anything about it. You abandoned me!" Naruto shouted.

"I did not abandon you!" Jiraiya shouted, "there was no way I could have taken you with me. I am the Konoha's Spymaster. I am constantly on the move, which isn't suitable for raising a child. Besides, I sent you money every month."

"Do you think I give a shit about money!? I couldn't care less about that considering those damn villagers always only sold me overpriced rotten food anyway! Why do you think I only ate Ramen for 6 years of my life!?" Naruto shouted back. "I needed a mother! A Father! I needed somebody to love me, to raise me, to treat me like I wasn't an unloved monster!"

"Do you have any idea what those fucking villagers used to say to my face when they thought the Hokage or Anbu weren't listening? That my mother was a whore in the Red Light district who spread her legs for any man with money and my father was a worthless drunk!"

"And you suck at being a sensei! You and Kakashi! I swear to Kami, Yami, and Shinigami, I've learned more on my own in the last four months than I have from the both of you combined!"

Naruto turned to leave and Jiraiya got up and tried to stop him, since Naruto was being emotional right now. "Naruto, stop! I'm your sensei, we can work this out-" Jiraiya put his hand on Naruto's shoulder but Naruto swatted it away, his eyes Kyuubified.

"Don't touch me! You are not my sensei and you are not my Godfather! When we first met, you didn't acknowledge me as your Godson, much less the son of your late student! You tried to ditch me whenever you could during that time I hounded you for training right before the Chuunin Exam Finals. Whether it was the time we first met or when you were suppose to actually train me during the month. You would sooner feed your vices over spending time with your Godson. As far as I'm concerned, we have no bond!"

Naruto stormed out of the pub, leaving Jiraiya there all alone with the crowd that had gathered to listen to the verbal fight. One old man stepped forward. "You should be ashamed of yourself, treating the hero of our country the way you have."

The crowd left him after that. Jiraiya sat at there at the bar, thinking over everything that Naruto said and he realized that Naruto was right. Jiraiya had severely failed in his duties both as a Godfather and Sensei. He did care about the kid, but he had always come up with an excuse as to why he couldn't be there for him, out of depression over what had happened to Minato. Jiraiya decided as he took another sip that he was just going to drink his sorrows away for the night and in the morning, he would find Naruto, apologize and begin working on being both a good sensei and a better godfather.

Unfortunately for the deeply flawed yet deep-down good man, Naruto had other plans.

**With Naruto**

Naruto was walking through the streets of the Wave, trying to clear angry and hateful thoughts from his head. He then bumped into Zori again.

"Hey watch where your going you moron!" yelled the man before he realized who he just bumped into and his faced nearly turned ghostly white.

"You really ought to watch who you bump into," said Naruto with a dark smirk before harshly throwing the man into the nearest alley.

"I'm sorry! What do you want from me?" Zori pleaded

"You seem like someone who knows things, like about Tenzen Diakoka." Naruto offered.

"Listen, I don't know anything about Tenzen okay? Let me go." he pleaded.

"Tell us what you do know and I will release you. But don't make me ask you twice." Naruto threatened, pulling out a kunai and releasing some killing intent to get his point across.

Shaking in fear he quickly spilled his guts, "Okay Tenzen is a politician but he also is a leader of a band of thieves, he gives out bribes to the feudal lords and they let him do whatever evil things he wants."

The last male Uzumaki patted him on the head like one would a dog, "See you do know something. Now where does he live?"

"He lives in a castle in the forest to the South of here, they say it's guarded by several hundred mercenaries and its impenetrable." Zori said.

"Thanks for the help," Naruto said as he put his Kunai away. Zori breathed a sigh of relief which was cut short when Naruto wrapped his arm around Zori's neck, bending him backwards and squeezing tightly.

"You-You said that-t you-'d let me g-g-g-go!" Zori struggling to breath.

"I said that I would **release** you. I can't very well have you warning Tenzen about me." Naruto said as he twisted upwards, violently breaking Zori's neck. Naruto let the corpse fall to the ground without a care. Naruto walked towards the forest, leaving the body in the alley.

**Forest**

Naruto walked into the forest until he was sure no one had followed him. "**Shadow Clone Jutsu" **Naruto said as he created 6 Shadow Clones. He bit his thumb and went through the handsigns for the summoning jutsu. **"Summoning Jutsu: Geratora!"** Many don't know this, but calling out the name of your summon takes some of the pressure off your chakra and actually increases the chances of summoning the right summons.

The scroll toad appeared out of the smoke. "who are you!? Where is Jiraiya-sama?" The scroll toad demanded.

"He's not here. You have something that belongs to me." Naruto said darkly as his clones surrounded the toad.

The clones grabbed Geratora and began to pull him in both directions to get the scroll he was guarding to become visible. "No!No! Stop! Jiraiya-sama, help!" the toad cried.

**Room**

A couple of men opened the door and threw the unconscious Jiraiya in, who was still sleeping from the overdrinking.

**Back with Naruto**

"He's not coming." Naruto said as Geratora tried to pull his body back into it's compressed state but he was not strong and couldn't fight against the clones. Eventually the toad was fully expanded and Naruto opened the scroll until the key and was visible.

"You don't know what you are doing!" Geratora shouted at the boy.

"Actually I do." Naruto said as he placed both of his hands on the key to his seal. The seal and everything concerning it glowed as he applied chakra to it. Black ink branches appeared on his hand and creeped up his arms as the everything on the paper shrank.

'_He's absorbing the key!'_ Geratora thought in shock. Eventually the scroll was empty as the black branches reaches his brain before they disappeared. Naruto held out his right hand and blue flames with kanji in them appeared along with a sealing matrix on either hand. "Good," Naruto said to himself now that he had full control of his seal.

"So you have the seal. What now?" Geratora asked. Naruto turned to his clone and said, "Do it,". The clone took out a Kunai and stabbed the toad in the head, killing it.

"Burn the body, Gentlemen." Naruto said as the clone used one of there fire jutsu to burn the corpse. Naruto walked to his apartment while thinking, '_I won't be able to summon the toads anymore, now that I've killed one of their own. I need to cross my name off that scroll'_

He walked in to find Jiraiya passed out. Naruto opened the scroll for Toad Summoners and found his name. He bit his thumb to draw blood and drew a straight line across his name. The name and blood turned black, signifying that he had no more affiliations with the toads, which meant he also could not be reverse summoned.

One might be wondering why Naruto had no problem killing. Naruto had taken several missions for Tsunade while he was on the trip. It was so he could keep his mission count up and earn a field promotion so he would not have to suffer the humiliation of still being a Genin when he got back. He had already killed and hunted down no less than 250 bandits in across 8 C-rank missions.

Naruto pulled off his shirt and the chakra flames and seal array appeared again on his arm as the seal appeared on his stomach.

"**Naruto, stop. This is not the way to be processing this,"** The Kyuubi warned.

"Your actions have consequences, Kyuubi. Did you truly believe that your's during the night of my birth wouldn't have any? Did you really think that after what you did, that I would simply forgive and forget?" Naruto said. He was quite angry with the Nine Tails, after learning that not only had the fox murdered his parents, the oversized fox had tried to kill him. The repressed memory had emerged when Naruto and Yami remerged.

The problem for Naruto was that he wasn't thinking clearly, regarding how he went off on Jiraiya and what he was doing now. When he recombined with Yami, he got all 13 years of repressed anger, hate, and all the other negative emotions in a single moment. Naruto hadn't yet finished processing all of that, and all the new anger he was getting wasn't helping because he had never learned how to process anger in a productive manner, since all those negative emotions had previously been shoved into an alternate personality, but now that Naruto didn't have that, he had no idea how to process all this anger.

"**Naruto, don't do this. I won't be able to help",** The Kyuubi warned.

"I don't care. You killed my mom and dad," Naruto said with hate and anger as he placed his hand on his seal.

"**Naru-"** The Kyuubi's voice was cut off as Naruto turned his hand and tightened the seal. The Seal would still siphon off the Kyuubi's chakra, allowing Naruto's own reserve's to rise at an exponential rate, but Naruto could no longer be influenced by the Kyuubi, which meant no Kyuubi induced healing and no Jinchuriki enhancement forms either.

**The Next Day**

Jiraiya groaned as he woke up. He shouldn't have drank so much. He held his hand to his head as his eyes widened, realizing he had been drugged. He frantically looked to see Naruto was not there with him.

Jiraiya went through the handseals and bit his thumb before slamming his hand to the ground. "**Reverse-Summoning Jutsu!"** The smoke appeared but when it dissipated, Naruto was not there.

Eyes widening, Jiraiya widened his eyes as he unraveled the scroll that held the names of the Toad summoners. Jiraiya looked to Naruto's name to see it crossed out.

Jiraiya quickly used another summoning jutsu to summon Geratora, but he only got ashes and burnt flesh. It took the Toad Sannin a second to realize that Geratora had been burnt to ash.

Jiraiya quickly gathered his things and rushed out.

**With Naruto**

Two guards were sitting on a lookout tower, eating a bowl of yakisoba when the bowl vanished in a puff of smoke. Then man felt a kunai slice his throat open, letting the blood flow like a river. The man dropped as Naruto stabbed the other one through the eye. He looked toward the castle of Tenzen. He dropped down for the guard tower, his hair and face drenched and covered in red blood, and slowly began walking toward the castle, as men lined up to meet him in battle. '_I am getting that sword back! No matter how many I have to kill today!'_

**With Jiraiya**

"**Summoning Jutsu!"** Jiraiya shouted as he activated the Jutsu, summoning Gamabunta.

"**Jiraiya, where's the boy!?"** Gamabunta shouted at Jiraiya, who was on top on his head, "**He killed Geratora!"**

"It's worse than that Bunta, he has the key to his seal! I need to find him before he does something drastic like letting the Nine-tails out of his seal." Jiraiya said.

"**I will not help you find that toad killer! He murdered one of our own. He spits upon sacrifices of his father!" **Gamabunta shouted, angry that the kid had murdered one of the arguably most important toads.

"He's only like this because of me!" Jiraiya shouted back at the oversized toad, making said toad pause, "I failed my duties as a I godfather and lately, I've been failing as a sensei as well. He made me realize that last night and I can't let him die before I have a chance to fix things between us. So help me, or I swear to the 3 goddesses, I will **FORCE** you to help me!" Jiraiya yelled at the toad, who's eyes widened. What Jiraiya was threatening to use on Gamabunta was the **Toad Overlord **Jutsu, a jutsu developed by Jiraiya that could overpower a toads will and force them to help them. To be willing to go that far…

"**Fine, I will help you find him, but after that, I don't want to see that traitor ever again."** Gamabunta said with a tone of finality as he jumped in the directions Jiraiya pointed.

**With Naruto**

"Ready? Aim. FIRE!" Shouted the leader of a group of archers as they unleashed a hail of arrows. Naruto closed his eyes, as he was in a trance. As the hail of arrows neared him, his eyes opened, filled with anger and hate. 4 blood read chakra chains shot out of his back and wrapped around him in a dome. The tips of the chains were shaped like spear blades. They unwrapped from him and showed he was fine. Then he slowly began walking forward.

The nerves of the merc's were on edge. When Naruto broke into a sprint, the 120 merc's roared and charged forward. Naruto flicked his hands and a kunai appeared in each. "**Flying Swallow!"** Naruto shouted as the wind chakra flowed through the blades and gave them 2 extra feet.

Naruto passed by one merc who sliced at him with his sword and bifurcated him. His arms were in a flurry as he sliced and diced through eight more men.

Naruto was forced to use his chains as a shield again to protect himself from a volley of arrows. Though he got stabbed in the back with several swords as he protected himself from the arrows. Naruto swiftly turned and decapitated the 4 idiots who stabbed him. The chains reached high into the sky before they came down swiftly in a vortex, traveling as high speeds before the spun around Naruto like a buzzsaw, shredding 4 dozen men to bits and drowning the field in blood.

"He's a demon!" One of the remaining 8 dozen merc's said. Naruto didn't appreciate that in his enraged state and shouted, "**Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"** The massive fireball that shot from his mouth exploded and killed 2 dozen more men.

"**Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"** Naruto shouted as he threw one shuriken and it became 500. **"Wind Style: Gale Palm!"** Naruto shouted as the wind from his hand increased the cutting power of his shuriken, killing more mercenaries.

"K-Kill him! Everyone, fire at will!" The Head archer shouted as they archers began to frantically fire arrows into the field, not really caring that they had killed the rest of the men fighting him, so long as Naruto died.

"**Wind Style: Devastation!"** Naruto shouted as he sent forth a powerful gust of wind from his mouth that scattered the arrows everywhere though one embedded itself in his shoulder and another in his left leg. Naruto shouted,** "Adamantine Attacking Chains!" **and slammed his hand into the ground.

At first, nothing happened. Then, the ground began to shake and shake more underneath the archers. Suddenly, A dozen blood red chains burst from the ground and swallowed the archers up, while simultaneously destroying the wall.

"We're doomed!" One scared merc screamed.

"RUN!" Many more screamed as the tried to flee for their lives.

"**RAAAGGHHHH!"** Naruto roared as he leapt through the gate and killed more of the guards that stood in his way.

**10 Minutes Later**

It was at this point Jiraiya arrived at the scene, just in time to see a bloodied Naruto walking into the palace. The toad sage and toad stared in shock at the carnage Naruto had unleashed upon Tenzen's men.

"**By Kami",** Gamabunta shuddered**, "Jiraiya, you truly have failed this boy."**

"Damnit, Bunta. You're the 3rd person to say that to me recently." Jiraiya complained.

"**Because it's true. To think that a kid like that could unleash such a massacre. Fix this Jiraiya, before it comes back to bite the world in the ass." **Gamabunata said as he ended the summoning, returning to his own realm.

Jiraiya touched the ground and rushed to the palace.

**With Naruto**

After effectively taking care of the mercenaries on the lower floor Naruto found himself in Tezen's bedroom. Naruto was still somewhat in a trance, so he did not necessarily notice that his wounds had already healed as the swords and arrows had fallen out.

"Impossible! There is no way a kid like you could have defeated all of my soldiers in combat." he said obviously pissed that his impenetrable castle was raided so easily and by a boy no older than 13.

"**Where is Zabuza's sword? Where is it!?"** Naruto snarled.

"Right over here!" yelled a voice before a hulking man wielding Kubikiribocho ran through the far wall and tried to bisect the Uzumaki.

Naruto was sliced directly at the waist, his legs and torso fall in a heap on the ground.

Seeing the bloody ninja cut down so easily seemed to build Tenzen's confidence.

"Ha you let your guard down and now you have paid the price." Tenzen told Naruto smugly in triumph.

Instead, he was shocked when Naruto exploded in a poof of smoke. A second later, blood red chains stabbed the man holding the Executioner's Blade into the nearby pillar.

Seeing Tenzen's shocked expression, Naruto explained as he became visible again, deactivating his **Chameleon Jutsu**, **"You missed".**

Not believing what he just heard Tenzen's hulking bodyguard roared as he tried to move forward, only for the blades at the end of two chains to smash the guards head to smithereens.

The chains extracted from the dead guard. Naruto grasped the handle and two chains wrapped around the handle, allowing Naruto to wield the 80 lb. blade as he hefted it onto his shoulder.

Turning towards Tenzen Naruto looked at his kneeling form. "You desecrated the graves of two people that I cared about and looked up to," Naruto said as he gripped the blade, "Now, DIE!"

Naruto brought the blade the down on Tenzen and watched at the man was split in half from left shoulder to lower right waist. The sword kicked up a cloud of dust as it hit the floor.

Jiraiya skidded into the room after that. "Naruto!" he shouted at the boy. Naruto, hold Kubikiri, turned his head to Jiraiya, his eyes still in something of a trance. But Jiraiya was shocked. For Naruto's once blue eyes, were now glowing bright red with six rings in each eye.

"**Rinnegan",** Jiraiya breathed in shock. For this was the second time he had met and trained somebody with the Rinnegan.

"Pervy Sage," Naruto breathed as he dropped the Kubikiri, slipping into unconsciousness. Jiraiya was by his side, catching the boy as he slipped into unconsciousness from being mentally exhausted.

"I'm sorry, Naruto." Jiraiya apologized as he held the unconscious boy close. "I'm so sorry I failed you. You were right. I don't have any excuse for treating you the way I did. But I swear, I'm gonna make this up to you. I'm gonna make this right." Jiraiya swore as he would do his job, both as a god father and teacher, and make this right. Jiraiya truly did care for this child, seeing him as a surrogate grandson and Jiraiya didn't want to lose that bond.

Unbeknownst to the two ninja, two of the mercenaries had survived. They fled for their lives and renounced their evil ways, and decided that they would lead good lives from then on. But not before telling stories of the Massacre at Tenzen's Castle. From that day onward, Naruto would be known as the **Red Death.**

**Chapter End**

**AN: So, Naruto suffered something of a downward spiral this chapter due to never learning how to handle his anger. He will be working to recover from that, but he won't regain the Toads as summons as his actions have consequences.**

**Rinnegan is used to explain the 5 elements thing. **

**Now, on the Uzumaki Chains, Minds eye of Kagura, and strong Life force. Apparently the chains and sensing is not a Bloodline, and are actually just clan jutsu. At least in Canon. Naruto will still get them. I will give a more detailed explanation of what is the Uzumaki bloodline in a later chapter.**

**Next Time: Exploits of the Red Death**


	3. Exploits of the Red Death

**Chapter 3: Exploits of the Red Death**

**Chapter Start**

**2 years into Naruto's training trip**

Akeno Madoka**(AN: For appearance purposes, think Akeno Himejima for Highschool DXD in her Shrine Priestess outift)**, the granddaughter of the Fire Daimyo had had a pretty rough life for a noble lady. Her father, who was a General of the Land of Fire Samurai, died in a failed assassination attempt of her uncle, who was to be the next Daimyo, and her mother was immediately betrothed to him, however she held no love for him so she killed him and herself in bed on the wedding night, leaving Akeno an orphan to the Daimyo. The only one left besides her brother to produce pure blood descendants for the Madoka dynasty.

Her grandfather only had maybe 10 years left to live, due to being as old as Hiruzen Sarutobi would have been if alive. Her brother Ikkyu was meant to inherit the throne of the daimyo. Her role in life was to produce future leaders for whoever her political marriage was with. When Iwa's new ambassador, Kurobachi of the famed Kamizuru clan of Iwa expressed his love for her, things have been hectic between her and her Grandfather, he immediately ordered Kurobachi for to be thrown out, Kurobachi offered her to come with him back to Iwa. She had refused, since she had met this cute redhead that interested her, and the day Kurobachi was supposed to return to the Land of Earth, he kidnapped her. Him and his four men kidnapped the princess and were planning on raping her, since Akeno was an exotic beauty.

On the fourth night of her abduction, she heard Kurobachi swear up a storm. She overheard what he was saying and learned that her grandfather requested a mission to get her back home. A part of her just wished the shadow of death would come to claim her. It was preferable to what lay in store for her at Kurobachi's hands.

"We're almost there and soon you will be on your back, begging for my cock you lit-"He was cut off by the blur of red. A man appeared in front of him and his team, his back turned to them. He wore a black sleeveless shirt, fingerless opera-length black gloves wrapped in studded red-brown leather straps, baggy black pants, and red-brown sandals with the same wrapping as his gloves. He wore a black jacket with it's hood up, had a anbu mask on, the KubikiriBocho strapped to his back, and a bloody Kris Blade in his hands.

"**Senmaioroshi****,"** The red-haired man said flicked the blood off the blade and resheathed it in the sheath that was horizontally tied on his waist. A hundred lines appeared on the bodies of Kurobachi's comrades and their bodies instantly were shredded into many pieces, producing showers of blood. He turned to reveal a fox mask covering his face. Kurobachi flew into a rage as these had been his pals, and he was planning to let them rape the princess after he was done.

"Y-YOU!" He growled out, rage in his eyes and foam trickled down his mouth.

"YOU MURDERED MY FRIENDS', YOU FUCKING CUNT!" Swarms of angry wasps came out of nowhere viciously attacking the Konoha Nin. The swarms of insects dispersed revealing saw dust from a **Substitution.**

"**Genjutsu: Infinite Darkness,"** came the voice of the masked man. Black darkness covered everything around Akeno and Kurobachi.

"Where are you?!" He felt something punch him and send him flying into a tree. Ignoring the pain in his jaw, he weaved through hand-signs. Unknown to him, the man had picked up Akeno and took her a safe distance away.

**"Thousand stings Jutsu!"** The Bees formed a protective Barrier around him and fired their poisoned stingers in every direction shredding the stony mountains of the land of Stone, not really caring that he had probably killed the girl he was planning to rape.

Kurobachi had no time to react as he felt a massive blade pierce his stomach and stab through his spine. He turned to his head as the genjutsu ended to see the fox masked man standing behind him, his hand on the massive cleaver sword. He also noticed that his bee's has been burned to ash.

"You-you're the **Red Death.** A Hi-igh A-Rank ninja from the Leaf that possesses the K-Kubikiribocho. We were told to fl-flee on site if we saw you. I should-d've listened," Kurobachi choked out.

"Yes," the **Red Death** said, "You should have." With that, he pulled the blade out and chopped his head off. He then sealed Kurobachi's head into a scroll, and burned the rest of the body.

The **Red Death** walked back to the clone that was carrying Akeno bridal style. "Thank you for your help, Ninja-san."

"Don't mention it, princess." The **Red Death **nodded.

"But how to know where to find me? My grandfather only put the bounty out for the bastard for day's ago." She said.

"Because I followed you," the **Red Death **said as he removed his mask to reveal the whiskered face of Naruto, along with his red hair. Awakening his bloodline had caused his hair to turn permanently red, though he still retained his original eye color.

"N-aruto-kun!?" Akeno said in shock as she realized she had been rescued by the cute ninja from the leaf that she been attracted to since he and his Master Jiraiya were staying in the capital for a while as the Daimyo's esteemed guests.

"Come on, let's get you home." Naruto said as he put his mask on and picked her up bridal style and leapt through the trees.

**5 days later**

Naruto entered the guest room he was staying and took off his coat, his long opera gloves, and headband and placed it on the table. The Daimyo had been very grateful to him for rescuing his grandsire and had rewarded him most handsomely. The bounty on Kurobachi and his associates had been an S-Rank, due to the profile of the mission, who it concerned, and Kurobachi's own A-rank status. He sat down near the fire places and began reading **"The Art of War."** Bit of a tedious read, but it was very eye opening for strategy and battle tactics.

He was thinking back on what the Daimyo had said to him earlier that day.

_Flashback_

_Naruto and the Daimyo were sitting across from each other, playing a game of Shogi._

"_I wanted to thank you in person for saving my granddaughters life, Naruto-kun." The Daimyo said as he moved a piece on the board._

"_It was my pleasure, my lord." Naruto said he took a sip of tea and moved a piece._

"_Hmm, so respectful. Just like your parents," The daimyo sighed in nostalagia as he moved another piece._

"_You knew my parents, Daimyo-sama?" Naruto asked as he moved another piece._

"_Of course," The Daimyo said as he moved another piece, "I knew your parents for the last 10 years of their life. In fact, I helped Minato-Kun get elected as Hokage."_

"_You did, my lord?" Naruto asked as he went through another move._

"_Yes, while the Hokage is still capable of choosing his successor, it is a wise decision politically to be on good terms with the Daimyo of your own country." The Daimyo smiled in knowing matter. _

"_Besides, I have you to thank for the various trade alliances we now have with the Wave, Spring, Tea, Bird and Vegetable Counties. You see Naruto-kun, whether you realize it or not, you have become a very important political figure in the Land of Fire."_

"_I believe that is checkmate, Naruto-kun," The Daimyo said, causing Naruto to look and groan as he had been beaten again. "You've gotten better. This time it took 36 moves to beat you. That's nearly double from last time."_

"_Let's go again, Daimyo-sama," Naruto said with a competitive smirk on his face._

_End Flashback_

Naruto also wandered off to his special project he had been working on. The restoration of the Uzumaki.

_**Flashback **_

_**6 months ago**_

_Jiraiya and Naruto were in the ruins of the Whirlpool Village. Ever since their initial falling out, Jiraiya had been acting more like an actual teacher and godfather. They were staying within the ruins of the village, which was sealed off, so nobody but Jiraiya and Naruto could enter and exit. Jiraiya had brought him here to learn the greater intricacies of Sealing Jutsu. Naruto had become an Uzumaki Adept-level Seal Master in the 2 years since he first began learning. There were 5 levels to Sealing. Novice, Apprentice, Adept, Expert, and Master. Granted, the quality and actual ability of Master's was not universally the same, since a Uzumaki Master was of a far greater quality than a Master that wasn't an Uzumaki. Uzumaki standards for sealing were far more demanding and difficult._

_Jiraiya had also explained after they patched up their falling out what his bloodline was from his mother, Kushina._

_The Uzumaki had a body based blood-line that made them in a sense, a pseudo immortal. All Uzumaki, by default, have extremely high chakra reserves and powerful life force that lets them live twice as long as ordinary people and survive biju extraction. Not all Uzumaki unlocked the second part of the bloodline though. His own mother was one such example. She likely did not unlock it because of her becoming the 9 Tails Jinchuriki at a young age. Jiraiya speculated that Naruto unlocked it because of sealing the kyuubi away, preventing any interference from his biju's chakra._

_The abilities of the 2nd level were high speed regeneration, increased muscle density and flexibility to give the body unmatched strength, speed, stamina, agility and flexibility, and the bone density is increased to the point that the bones, while still weighing the same as normal bones, become unbreakable and stronger than steel._

_They are also immune to all forms of poison, toxins, diseases, and their bodies' immune system can easily identify a new poison that enters the body, breaks it down and turns it into antibodies that can destroy any new substances that enters the body._

_Jiraiya explained to Naruto what little he himself knew about the Rinnegan. It was fabled eye of the Sage of the Six Paths, the one that helped him save the world, but details of what had transpired back then have been lost to history. Jiraiya mentioned that he had known one other student, an Uzumaki, back in the 2__nd__ World War that had it. The kid had been a refugee from the Whirlpool Village and ended up in Ame. Naruto wondered if only Uzumaki could awaken the Rinnegan, and Jiraiya, based on what he had seen, could not necessarily refute that claim. Ancient texts that they had uncovered in Naruto's ancestral home seem to suggest that while the Senju had the 'Sage's body' and the Uchiha had the 'Sage's Eyes', the Uzumaki had inherited the 'Sage's Spirit and Mind', which Naruto assumed that meant the Uzumaki inherited the Sage's powerful life-force, and a mind that was capable of understanding the complex art of sealing.  
_

_Tonight, it was very late. Jiraiya was already asleep, but Naruto was feeling restless, had been since he got here 3 days ago, and decided to explore. He walked through countless ruined houses, until after an hour of searching, he came the largest building in the entire village, which he realized was the Clan Head's compound. He entered it, to find skeletons with tattered clothing and dried blood. The skeletons varied in size, from adult size, to child size, and even a baby sized one. Naruto looked around the compound and ended up in the library to see bloody headbands from the Hidden Cloud, Stone, Mist, Rain, Grass, Star, Hot Water, Moon, Frost, Valley, and a broken Anbu mask with the Kanji for 'Root'. He growled as he realized his village had been betrayed from within by Danzo. Naruto threw the mask aside and put his hands on a nearby wall in frustration, dragging his hand along the wall and cutting it on a broken piece of wood. Naruto watched the wound instantly close itself, but then looked at the wall and saw a complex sealing array glow white for a moment, before a door appeared on the wall, where there had not been one before._

_Curious, Naruto walked through the hidden door to reveal a secret room, filled with the Uzumaki's most prized secrets. Among these scrolls were the detailed records of their many sealing techniques, as well as a large scroll that held the names of all the members of the clan, at least up to when they were killed. _

_Naruto pondered this. He would need to look into this more. If there were members of his clan still running around, he would find them and bring them under his protection. Naruto didn't think he could rebuild the Hidden Whirlpool Village. There probably wasn't enough members of his clan left to make such a thing viable. But he could reform the clan within the protective boundaries of Konoha. Of course, there was still the matter of Danzo, but he would deal with him when the time came. _

_He would also need to look further into the Mist village's involvement in the massacre of his clan. Like the Leaf, the island nation had been on good terms with the Mist and Cloud Village, as they made the swords for the Mist that became the staple of the Mist's 7 Ninja Swordsmen and the Hidden Stone village was also really far away, too far away to feel viably threatened by his clan. The more Naruto thought about it, the more he thought there was some kind of shadow conspiracy against his clan. But why? Who, besides Danzo and maybe the 3__rd__ Raikage, wanted his clan destroyed? Was someone planning something big and wanted them out of the way because they thought they were a major threat? That were the question's that needed answered._

_**Flashback End**_

**2 months later**

**Earth Country **

Naruto stood a few inches from a large rift in the earth called _'Great Divide'_. A giant rift that separated the borders of the Land of Stone with other nations. Naruto was here on a mission. The Fang Clan, a group of bandits lead by a rogue ninja from the Hidden Stone Village, if you would believe it, was causing trouble. His bandits had been hitting numerous caravans near the border of the Fire Country recently and the Daimyo wanted it stopped. So, after the Daimyo worked the details over with Tsunade, Naruto was given the A-rank mission to wipe this 'clan' of bandits out.

Naruto applied chakra to his feet and moved towards the bottom, and that was when he heard a soul wrenching scream, Naruto suppressed his chakra to the point where it didn't exist and moved further down to investigate.

He took cover behind a large slab of rock, he looked and saw something utterly revolting. Bandits raping women, the women looking completely broken mentally, like they had given up on resisting their torture, and their limbs completely bound by tight chains that, unless one was a shinobi, you wouldn't be getting out of. Some of these women were so broken that they seemed to be enjoying it.

_"Good god, they're nothing more than cock-sleeves, and these bandits made sure of that."_ Naruto thought. Naruto knew that the bandits in the Land of Stone were utterly cutthroat and revolting, but this? This crossed the line, the bastards made sure that these women had no where to go. Naruto stepped out to wipe these men off the face of the earth.

The Bandits who weren't 'enjoying' themselves quickly spotted Naruto. A tall tanned muscular man with receding brown hair and a long whispy mustache came into view. He had a linear scar going down the middle of his forehead. He wore purple pants tucked into fur boots. He wore fur gauntlets and a fur coat, unbuttoned, which showed off his chest and abs. He wore a headdress with feather on the back, like some kind of crude makeshift crown.

"Who the fuck is you?" one of the bandits yelled. Naruto didn't even respond. He raised his head and glared at the bandit that dared to question him. He did give out an intimidating presence.

"I am Kiba Daio, former Jonin of Iwagakure, the head of the Fang Clan, AROOOOO!" Kiba Daio yellowed passionately.

"AROOOOOO!" The rest of the Bandits echoed too, no longer feeling fear. Naruto remained silent.

"IF YOU WANT TO JOIN US, KNEAL IN FRO- "Kiba Daio was interrupted when Naruto's fist impacted his stomach. "**Iron Fist!"** He shouted as Kiba Daio was sent flying. His impact caused rubble to fall on top of him. Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs, "None of you scumbags are leaving here alive!"

Naruto used **Hidden Mist Jutsu **to cover the bottom of the cavern in a thick fog. He applied chakra to a seal on his hand and in a puff of smoke, the Executioner's Blade appeared in his hand. He immediately applied his **Silent Killing** and began chopping the bandits to bits with Executioner's Blade.

"**Adamantine Attacking Chains!"** Naruto shouted as two dozen red chakra chains shot from his back when he grew tired of chopping them to bits by hand and skewered more than two dozen on his chains.

"**Lightning Style: Yasakani Magatama!"** Naruto said as he clapped his hands together and formed a string of 10 magatama the size of his fists, before sending them forward into a cluster of bandits. The various magatama pierced the men, before the lightning magatama discharged so much electricity that it fried their insides.

5 minutes later, everyone except the women were dead.

Naruto used his **Minds Eye of Kagura,** to sense one more living Chakra.

"Tch, figures," Naruto said when a pile of rubble exploded behind him. He threw a kunai behind him, only for it to bounce off something and break in half.

"That didn't even tickle," Kiba Daio said, coming out of the smoke to reveal himself uninjured and his skin colored black.

Naruto disappeared in burst of speed and appeared behind Kiba Daio, bringing Executioner's Blade down on his head. Only for the blade to break in half. Kiba threw his fist back, and Naruto used his **Adamantine Sealing Chains** that protruded from his back to pull himself out of the way of the attack while he was still in mid-air. He rolled back to the group with the half of Executioner's Blade that he still has. "Aw man, this sucks. Now I gotta reforge the blade," Naruto complained.

Naruto analyzed the man outloud, "Your an A-Rank missing Ninja from Iwa, and you also possesses the **Metal Style** bloodline, which is why your flesh is made of metal right now, it's your famous **Metal Style: Steel Armor** Jutsu."

"You are remarkably well informed." Kiba Daio said," But that is correct! My jutsu makes me invincible! You cannot hurt me!"

'_I could easily break though that with my __**Preta Path **__or my sealing chains__**,**__ but I didn't seal away the Nine-Tails just to make my Rinnegan my new crutch. He's all metal now. I can easily get around that.'_ Naruto thought.

"You would think so," Naruto countered as he appeared right behind Kiba in a **Shunshin.** Kiba turned and punch behind him, only for Naruto to dodge his attack in circular motion before punching Kiba in the stomach hard. Not one to give up, Kiba tried to punch Naruto three times, which Naruto dodge each time, maneuvering around Kiba like he was circling around the former Iwa Jonin. Kiba tried to grab Naruto, but Naruto jumped up and slammed his knee into Kiba's face, putting him off balance.

Naruto got inside of Kiba's guard and shouted "**Thunder King's Fist!"**. Naruto delivered a barrage of ultra-highspeed punches to Kiba's torso. Attacks which thanks to Naruto enhanced strength and physical body, were able to break through his defense, causing enormous levels of pain to erupt throught the former Stone Jonin's body.

It was then that 3 of Naruto's Shadow Clones appeared with their hands pointed at Kiba. "**Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu"** they said as they both used the jutsu simultaneously resulting in a version large enough to completely encompass the missing Iwa ninja.

'_this will not hold me!'_ Kiba thought as he slowly began to move inside the jutsu.

'_Tch, the bastard's strong. To be able to move at all inside of my __**Water Prison**__ like this__**.'**_ Naruto thought in grudging respect.

The real Naruto reappeared in front of he clone's **Water Prison** and flashed through handsigns for one of his B-Rank Lightning Style Jutsu. "**Lightning Style: False Darkness"** Naruto emitted a lightning bolt in the shape of a spear from his mouth at the Water Prison. Kiba screamed in pain as his great defensive technique suddenly became a huge weakness.

Kiba came out of the Jutsu, smoking as he suffered severe electrical burns. He had channeled chakra into his organs to protect them from the Lightning Jutsu, but he could no longer keep up his armor and fell to the ground. "You bastard," He growled, "You killed my sons! I kil-"

Naruto cut the man off by literally cutting off his head off, slamming into the dirt and kicking up dust. The sword regenerated completely.

"Well, that was anti-climatic." Naruto commented as the dust cleared.

Naruto turned and walked to the only woman who was not broken yet.

"What happen to you? How did they capture you?" He asked softly. A brunette who looked between the age of nine-teen and twenty-two looked at Naruto.

"T-they captured us." She started, "We were all apart of my f-father's traveling caravan, and that when they ambushed us, t-those scums who lay dead at your feet now, a sight I longed wish to see, killed my father and my brothers, they killed all the men and boy-child while selling all the younger girls, we were kept for their entertainment."

"And if not taking away our loved ones were not enough, they robbed us of our dignity. Please lord Shinobi, I beseech you to take our lives. PLEASE LET US DIE AND REJOIN OUR FAMILY!" She begged as tears cascade down her eyes. Naruto sighed and nodded granting her wish for the mercy killing. The red head weaved through hand-signs and touched the earth, the very earth swallowed the woman and the deceased Bandits, the woman for the very first time since her captured smile and uttered her final words.

"Thank you."

While Naruto was adding prestige to his name and killing off high-ranked missing ninja, the only other former-genin of Team 7 still loyal to Konoha was having revelations of her own.

**Leaf Village**

"You want to what, now?" Tsunade asked her apprentice in confusion.

"Master, I'd like to see the mission report for the Sasuke Retrieval Mission." Sakura asked respectfully.

"What brought this on?" Tsunade asked curiously while Shizune and Tonton stood off to the side. Tsunade was quite proud of her apprentice. In the 2 years since the Hokage had taken Sakura on, she had mastered everything Tsunade had to teach. Now all Sakura had left was to develop her own **Strength of a Hundred Seal **and master **Creation Rebirth** and she will truly be equal to Tsuande, at least as far as Medical Ninjutsu and Summons were concerned.

"Sensei... I've been thinking a lot about that mission lately and about Team 7." she said her eyes never left the Sannin that was in-front of her.

"When I was waiting at the gates for Naruto and his team to come back... Ino asked me something... she asked me who I was waiting for, and I answered Naruto. I was waiting for him and not Sasuke." she continued. Tsunade and Shizune listened intently as Sakura admitted to something very heartfelt.

"I then started thinking about Naruto and all he's ever done for me... I was so cruel to him when he just wanted to be my friend, I berated him when he brought up good idea's and when Sasuke suggested the same thing's, I'd praise him for it and not Naruto. I then remembered his promise to me, I could see he was so hurt when I asked him to bring Sasuke back... I don't know whether he was hurt because he saw me so sad or whether it hurt him because he thought my heart belonged to someone else... but when he put aside his own feelings for my own, I was so happy, happy because he was so selfless and caring... now that I think about it, he never treated me badly."

'_Could it be?'_ Tsunade wondered with some hope, '_Has my prize pupil finally managed to break her ridiculous fangirl obsession with the Uchiha brat?'_

"I then remembered a time when we were younger, I was being bullied by these boys who were making fun of my forehead but Naruto came over and defended me. Eventually the boys beat him up and if it wasn't for my mom who came around the corner, they would continue beating him, so she stopped the boys hitting Naruto. But when she saw that it was him, she turned away and took my hand, saying to stay away from him, I was too young to understand maybe I'll never understand. Later on, I became the one who would verbally hurt Naruto and put him down to make myself feel better."

"When we became a genin team I was so happy that I was on Sasuke's team. Later I was sitting alone by myself when I saw Sasuke, he complimented me on the one thing I hated, my forehead. But now when I look back at our time as a team, I realized that Sasuke would never say that to me but it was something that Naruto would say... and now that I look back I figured something out, that the one I truly love... the one that would sacrifice anything for me, even his own happiness, the one that stood by me this whole time is Naruto... I love Naruto... and when he comes back I'll tell him that and then I'll share my feelings with him." she said with pure determination. "I used to think that I knew what love was but it was just some wayward crush... true love is putting ones happiness above your own and that's what Naruto did for me and would do for me in a heartbeat... and I want to be happy with him."

Tsunade and Shizune masked their feelings, but privately, they were proud that Sakura finally gotten over Sasuke.

"But until Naruto-kun comes back in two years, I can't tell him how I feel. And I know only a little bit about what him and the others went through. I need to see for myself, what they went through, all to get a traitor back." Sakura said with determination.

Tsunade, pleased with this development, reached into her desk and pulled out the folder that held the full details of the mission. "Be sure to return that tomorrow. You're dismissed." Sakura bowed respectfully and went home to read the report.

"I believe, Master, you owe me some money now." Shizune said mischievously as both she and Tsunade had a bet going on when Sakura would realize her feelings for Naruto.

"Tch, I was sure I was going to win that," Tsunade grumbled as she handed several thousand ryo to Shizune, who was more than happy to except.

Needless to say, after reading the full mission details, Sakura only saw Sasuke an enemy to kill or capture for the village, and was determined to make sure Naruto didn't try to throw his life away trying to get him back.

**Back with Naruto**

Naruto made his way back to their camping, where Jiraiya was making dinner.

"Hey brat, you're back." Jiraiya said. "Mission accomplished, I assume."

"Damn right," Naruto said, holding the scroll that now held Kiba Daio's head, "Head's right here."

"Good job," Jiraiya said, as he motioned to the pot over the campfire. "You're all just in time for dinner. I made Seafood Ramen."

As Naruto and the team gathered around the campfire, Naruto had a genuine smile on his face, seeing the happy face of his mentor and feeling the camaraderie that he had missed out on as a Member of Team 7. '_Yeah,'_ he thought, '_This is much better.'_

**Chapter End**

**I'm confirming nothing yet as far as pairings go, but Sakura has a strong running for being with Naruto. I will admit I never liked her in part 1, but she got better in part 2. I've decided to fix Kishimoto's failure's that he made at the end of Naruto by completely undoing Sakura's development, as now there is no way she will ever end up with Sasuke.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Confirmed Harem Members: **

**Strong Likelyhood: Sakura, **

**Maybe/Up for debate: Ino, Samui, Karui, Temari, Amaru,**

**Can't make up my bloody mind: Shizuka, Shion, Shizune, Anko, Tsunade, Konan, Mei, Tayuya,**

**Not happening: Hinata, Yugito, **

**Chapter 4: Hunt of the Swordsmen**

**3 years into Naruto's Training Trip**

Naruto could be seen by a campfire eating his evening meal after a hard night of training. The meal for tonight was snake meat stew. It was then that Jiraiya showed up.

"Hey gaki," Jiraiya waved as Naruto stopped eating.

"Pervy Sage," Naruto called.

"Still using that _slanderous_ nickname brat?" Jiraiya asked with a smile.

"It's not slanderous when it's true." Naruto commented with a smile, "Anyway, what's up?"

Jiraiya pulled a scroll and handed it to Naruto. "It's from Tsunade-hime. She's given you the go-ahead for _that_ mission."

Naruto would finish his meal and tuck in early that night. For at first light on the following day, he would hunt one of the remaining members of the 7 ninja swordsmen of the Mist.

**Timeskip**

**2 weeks**

It had taken him 2 weeks to track down the rouge Swordsmen, mostly because the lead was old and not that good. The rouge Swordsmen was probably the strongest member right after Kisame, being Ameyuri Ringo. She was a part of the strongest generation of 7 Ninja Swordsmen. She had initially served Yagura in the Mist Civil War, but for some reason, 2 years ago, she went rogue.

Anyway, Naruto had tracked her down to the Katabami Gold Mine in the Land of Rivers. He came across the village for the gold mine that was covered by thunder clouds. It was constantly raining, and lightning crackled everywhere.

As he walked, he was surrounded by a bunch of thugs with black hoods, gloves, and boots. On their gloves, was a pair of three long blade like claws on them. Naruto figured they were weak thugs, which had the most minute ninjutsu knowledge.

"Who are you, stranger?" asked one of the members.

"None of your business. I have business to attend to here." Spoke Naruto. He could tell that these idiots couldn't tell that they were far beyond their current skill, and would easily be killed by any of them if they wanted to.

"We'll then you're going to have to leave, because we don't want you here." Spoke another member.

"Who said I cared? I have business concerning Konoha to attend to here. Nobody said I was going to ask if I could do it." Said Naruto.

"Hmph, don't let the fact you're from one of the Five Great Nations hinder your judgment. If you try and enter our village, we will kill you." Spoke the only female.

"Tch, don't make promises you can't keep." Spoke Naruto, as he pulled the Executioner's Blade off of his back.

"Alright Ringo Family, **Black Tornado**!" shouted the only female. Instantly, they all jumped on each other's shoulders. Naruto thought they were mental, but when they started spinning, he could see it was actually a fairly decent technique. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see one of them trying to run away. He ignored him for the weird technique coming his way. When it got close enough, he pulled the Executioners Blade up, and swung it into the black tornado. As soon as the sword made contact with the twister it ripped right through and cut the fat one in half. As they fell, he continued to slice them in half. Once the gang was all dead, the Uzumaki continued his walk towards the village.

When he entered the village, he could see how bad things were. People were being forced to live in subpar living spaces. They were dressed in rags, they looked like they hadn't bathed in weeks, and they had a look of hopelessness in their eyes.

They continued to walk around until Naruto heard his stomach grumble. _'Hmmmm can't fight a member of the Seven Swordsmen on an empty stomach' _thought Naruto.

After searching for a few minutes, he found a decent looking place called the 'Curry of Life'. The young Uzumaki entered it, and saw an old woman behind the counter.

"Hey, granny. I'd like a bowl of curry, please." Spoke Naruto in a kind tone.

"Hello, young one. I'll have your curry out in just a second." Spoke the old lady. After a few minutes, she brought out a bowl of curry for him. When Naruto started to eat it, his taste buds fell in love. "Wow granny, you sure can cook. This is delicous!"

"Haha! Well, thank you. My grandson is also very skilled with making curry, but he wants to join that awful gang instead. He wants to be a man and not a coward, but no man gangs up on someone." Spoke the old lady in a sad tone. Naruto didn't know what to do, suddenly feeling a bit guilty. He really hoped he hadn't killed this nice old ladies grandson.

"What does your grandson look like?" asked Naruto.

"Hm, he has long brown hair held up in a high pony tail, with bandages on his neck, grey brown eyes, and an angular face. Why?" asked the curious old lady.

Naruto thought back to the men that he had just killed. None of them matched her description, so that was good. Then he remembered the sixth member that ran away before the fight even started. He sighed in relief. "Sorry about the weird question, but for a second I though I had killed your grandson. I met by six members of the local gang as I entered the village, but I killed five of them. The other ran away before the fight even began. I'm glad your grandson at least had enough common sense to run from a fight he couldn't win." Spoke Naruto, as he continued to eat.

"Oh thank kami, he isn't dead. I'm glad you didn't chase him down and kill him just for being with them. May I ask why you are are here though?" was the old ladies response.

"I'm here to kill the rouge member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen hiding out in your village, but I came here first because I was hungry, ma'am." Answered Naruto. The old lady looked shocked.

"You can't do that! She was a member of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, and no offense, but you're quite young." Spoke the old lady.

"I've already fought 2 members before. I will be fine." Spoke Naruto.

"Well, I wish good luck to you." Spoke the old lady as she went back behind the counter while Naruto finished his meal and walked out.

As he walked down the road, he saw Ameyuri standing in the middle of the road, looking at him with the eyes of a hunter.

Ameyuri was relatively short in comparison with the other members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. She had long, red hair, black eyes, and together with a Kiri forehead protector, she also wore a simple cloth around her head, distinctively tied at both sides so as the ends of the material protrude upwards, while the remainder of hair is allowed to flow downwards. She wore a loose, pin-striped long-sleeved shirt with a dark obi around the waist, black pants which got much looser near the ends, resembling hakama, and striped leg-warmers. Like all the other members of her generation of swordsmen, she wore bandages loosely tied around the neck and had jagged teeth. She had a slash through her headband symbol, showing her rogue status.

They regarded each other silently for several moments, Ameyuri noting in her mind that this prey would not be like normal.

Naruto was done waiting, disappearing and reappeared in front of Ameyuri. He slammed his fist into her gut, causing her to gasp and clutch her stomach in pain before he used a powerful haymaker and sent her flying back before he followed her.

Ameyuri had recovered from being sent flying and was on the ground, on her knees. Naruto tried to hit her with a flying kick, that she blocked with her swords. She tried to slice his legs off but Naruto used her swords as a springboard to leap back to a safe distance.

"Ameyuri Ringo. I've always wanted to meet the only woman to ever get into the Seven Ninja Swordsmen." Spoke Naruto as he smiled.

"You seem to know me, but I don't know you," Ameyuri mentioned from her spot on the ground.

"Names Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto introduced.

"Oh, it's always a pleasure to meet cute little prey like you. Give me a good hunt, will you? I've haven't had a decent one in years." Spoke Ameyuri as she pulled herself up from the ground. Naruto was curious what she meant by that, but was sure he would find out soon.

"Only if you make it interesting for me," Naruto said as he activated one of his **Storage Seals** on his body, white smoke spilling out for a moment before fading into the wind. In his hands, Ameyuri could see an ornate shortsword. The sword itself had a gilded hilt with O-Ring shaped pommel, the hilt wrapped in black bandages to provide better grip. Touching the fuller of the blade was the carved shape of a sleeping face. The shape of the blade part was thicker than a broadsword but short like a wakizashi. Also, one half of the blade glowed a faint light blue and the other glowed bight green. (**Imagine the alternate art for the Sword of Body and Mind from MTG's Double Master's set).**

"Are you ready to die?" asked Ameyuri as she readied her **Lightning Blades**.

"I'm always ready!" shouted the overenthusiastic Naruto.

"Then get ready. **Lightning Style: Lightning ball**!" shouted Ameyuri, as he put the two Lightning Blades blades together. Once the lightning formed, she aimed the blades at Naruto. Then a powerful bolt of lightning shot out towards him.

"**Enlightened Shield", **Naruto said as he held **The Sword of Body and Mind **upside down, blade pointed towards the earth. A green shield appeared in front of Naruto. The ball of lightning hit the red shield and harmlessly dispelled.

"Oohhh," Ameyuri noted in appreciation, "That's a neat sword you got there."

"Thanks," Naruto replied, "You got a good set of blades there yourself."

"What is that sword supposed to be anyway? It looks like it would have belonged to a Mist Ninja." Ameyuri said.

"This sword is my own creation. You might say that this is what **Hiramekarei** was meant to be." Naruto informed her.

'_So, I'm basically fighting a guy who has a proper sword with Hiramekarei's abilities? Excellent!' _Ameyuri thought with a toothy gin.

Naruto channeled wind chakra into his blade with his **Flying Swallow,** which caused the wind chakra flowing through the blade to turn the dual color of blue and green. "Let's go, Ameyuri," Naruto said as he charged Ameyuri.

"Come and get it!" She said excitedly as they clashed blades. Ameyuri noticed that her blades did not even begin to cut through her opponents sword. It was then she noticed the chakra flowing through the sword. '_Wind style,'_ she noted.

"Aw, what's wrong, handsome? Afraid of getting cut up a little bit?" Ameyuri flirted/pouted a bit.

"Oh, I wouldn't mind a being cut up if it's you, sweet cheeks," Naruto flirted back, "Sadly, I went through a lot of trouble to make this sword and I prefer not reforging it."

"AH, and here I thought I had found a gentleman," Ameyuri flirted right back as they separated and began slashing and parrying each other. Sparks flew from each blade as they parried and blocked each other for 10 solid minutes. Ameyuri was very skilled with those blades, dual wielding them with precision and grace that was expected from a master. Naruto had gotten good very good at Kenjutsu over the last 3 years, and thus was able to keep up with her. They separated and each were showing several light cuts on their person, though Naruto's quickly healed and Ameyuri was sporting more.

"Hahahahaha! Yes! This is the battle that I've longed for!" shouted Ameyuri excitedly. She crossed the Lightning Blades and announced, **"Lightning Style: Lightning Fang!".** Instantly, several bolts of lightning came out of the blades, and sent toward Naruto.

Naruto flashed through one-handed seals and said, "**Wind Style: Storm Wall,"** The circular wall of wind appeared in front of Naruto and protected him from the blast.

Naruto then appeared in front of Ameyuri and tried to decapitate her but she leaned back, avoiding the slice. He pivoted on his foot, spinning around and slicing at her stomach which was blocked by Ameyuri using one of her blades. She raised the other one with a bloodthirsty grin, and tried to stab Naruto through the head. Naruto leaned backwards, avoiding the hit. **"Iron Fist,"** Naruto said as he thrust his fist into Ameyuri's face, knocking her off her feet and sending her flying back several feet. She recovered in midair, repositioning her self in the air. **"Lightning Blade Jutsu: Thunderbolt", **Ameyuri said as she held her blades above her head like birch rods, which summoned a bolt of lightning from the sky to shock Naruto. He gritted his teeth in pain as the natural lightning coursed through him.

Naruto recovered and sheathed his sword, concentrating before charging up his attack. "**Nylea's Razor,"** Naruto said. He launched the attack, a concentration of razor sharp green chakra at Ameyuri. The attack traveled along the ground and rose up into the air, cut right through Ameyuri.

'_No,' _Naruto thought in suspicion, '_that was too easy.'_ He was proven right when Ameyuri burst into water, revealing that it was a water clone.

"**Lightning Style: Depth Charge,"** Ameyuri said while behind him. Ameyuri enveloped herself with lightning chakra, then emitted a powerful bolt of electricity from her body. It hit Naruto, causing him to grit his teeth in pain.

Naruto whirled around in rage and shouted, "**Wind Style: Devastation!" **Naruto kneaded chakra in his mouth and unleashed a powerful, sudden gust of wind at full power. It hit Ameyuri Ringo, like a speeding boulder. She flew back nearly a 3/10th of a mile.

Ameyuri pulled herself up after the gust ended. She felt that the gust had broken several of her ribs. '_Okay, now I'm not having fun anymore.'_ Ameyuri thought.

Naruto appeared a few feet from her in a burst of speed. "That wasn't very nice, blasting me away like that." Ameyuri tried but Naruto's only response was a cold glare, "Okay, then."

Ameyuri connected the Lightning Blades together and spun them over her head, "**Lightning Style: Thunder Armor**!" Instantly lightning covered Ameyuri's entire body, and swords. "I guess the time for talking is over."

"You're damn right about that." Naruto said.

"**Lightning Style: Lightning Dragon Tornado." **Ameyuri raised her swords above her head and started spinning. Her spinning caused a spinning vortex of lightning to appear around her. Part of the vortex became a dragon. It then coiled back and launched toward Naruto.

Naruto flashed through handsign's. **"Lightning Style: Thunder Dragon Jutsu!" **Naruto concentrated a large amount of lightning chakra into a giant Chinese dragon, which launched at Ameyuri with amazing speed.

The two dragons crashed into each other, creating a massive explosion of lightning and cancelling each other out.

"Gotch ya!" Ameyuri said as she appeared above Naruto. Naruto blocked her with his sword.

"**Rasengan!****" **Naruto shouted as he pulling his arm back, charging up the Rasengan within the blink of an eye. Naruto's constant training in high level chakra control allowed him to this. Though the **Rasenshuriken** was an entirely different story. The attack was still strong enough to shatter Ameyuri's own armor, which coincidentally gave him such a shock that it fried some of his nerve ending's. Ameyuri was also protected from the potentially lethal damage that the Rasengan would have done.

The both were on their knees, trying to pull themselves up and push through the pain, with lightning sparking off of Naruto.

Ameyuri was able to pull herself up first, but she was breathing hard. "That is it! I'm done playing around!" Ameyuri shouted as she used as she stabbed both of the Lightning Blades into the ground. She gripped both harshly.

Naruto pulled himself to his feet as thick lightning began to rise from the pommels of the Lightning Blades into the sky, "**Lightning Style: Thunder Gate!" **Ameyuri shouted.

Naruto would normally have used a **Shunshin** to try to reach her and avoid the attack. It might have worked if her jutsu was formed lightning. But this jutsu used natural lightning, and Naruto knew he could not outrun natural lightning. Naruto was subsequently hit with a massive bolt of lightning that blew up everything within 1000 foot radius.

Once the smoke had cleared, it could be seen land where the two redheads were fighting was scorched, little left except ashes and black soil.

Naruto himself was in a giant crater. His entire upper body and lower legs colored black from the electrical burns. He was face down and wasn't moving. **The Sword of Body and Mind **was stabbed into the ground next to him.

Ameyuri pulled both blades out of the ground and slid down the crater til she stopped a few feet from Naruto. "Such a shame. You were definitely my type. You gave me the best I ever had. I certainly won't forget you, Naruto Uzumaki."

She stopped moving though when she heard movement and haggard breathing behind her. '_What?'_ she thought as she turned around. To her amazement, Naruto was moving gripping the dirt, breathing hard. Her greater amazement was seen when he moved himself to a kneeling position and she saw his arms heal and return to normal. His body healed more as he stood, the only indication that he had been hit was the fact that part of his pants survived.

'_How could he have survived? My __**Thunder Gate**__ is a S-Rank Jutsu, powerful enough to disintegrate anybody that it hits when the bolts it calls down are combined into one massive bolt of lightning, so how?' _"How did you survive that? You should be disintegrated or at least dead." She said.

Naruto opened his eyes and told her, "With all due respect, hot stuff, I am an Uzumaki. That kind of attack is not the kind that can kill someone like me. There is a reason it took a conspiracy, 10 villages, and a force of 100,000 ninja, just to kill a clan of 1000." Naruto said as he thought, '_I got too excited during this fight and didn't take her as seriously as I should have. I can't afford to fall into that trap.'_

"That rank they gave in the Bingo Book Low S-rank, doesn't really suit you. You're more like High S-rank." Naruto complimented.

"Let's agree to be generous and call it Mid S-Rank." Ameyuri shrugged.

"Before we go back to fighting, I have something I want to ask you. Why did you leave Yagura's forces?" Naruto wondered. It was common knowledge that at least 3 members of the 7 Ninja Swordsmen still served Yagura. Ameyuri had been one of them, until she had left suddenly one night without telling anyone.

"I was but I didn't leave for the reason you think. Sure I never really cared about Yagura's hypocrisy, but it wasn't bad enough for me to leave. No, I left because I discovered that I had an incurable disease. Sadly, I have not found a cure and I didn't want to die in some hospital, I wanted to die fighting a glorius battle." Ameyuri said.

"So, I guess I cannot convince you to join me then?" Naruto said. "Because, I'll be honest, should I win, I'm going to the Mist Village to personally depose Yagura and restore order to the village."

"No, like I said, that doesn't interest me. While I don't particularly care about Yagura and his dying cause, it's too late for me to leave any sort of legacy behind. I'll never be remembered as anything more than a monster, so why change it?" Ameyuri said, and Naruto could see that he was not going to convince her, so he decided that he might have to accept a loss on front.

"Then, in that case, I shall give you a glorious death." Naruto proclaimed, getting ready for the fight to resume.

"Hehehehe. You are truly my type, Naruto Uzumaki!" She shouted excitedly as she stabbed her swords into the ground. "**Lightning Style: Thunder Gate!"** The Lightning from the swords rose into the sky.

"That's not gonna hit me a second time." Naruto said as he grasped **The Sword of Body and Mind ** and held out other his hand, focusing a large amount of wind style chakra on his right hand, a loud, screeching sound emanating from his right hand as wind chakra coated his entire hand, a small, super sharp blade forming at the tip of his hand. The Lightning from Ameyuri's jutsu came crashing down but this time, Naruto was ready. "**Wind Style: Hand of God!"** He said as he swung his arm up, the hand making contact with the bolt at the right moment. The two Jutsu met. Naruto's was stronger though and caused the massive bolt to split into several smaller bolts, blasting the crater and kicking up dirt.

'_He cut right through my bolt!'_ Ameyuri thought in shock as she saw something truly awe-inspiring. Naruto rushed at Ameyuri, coming out of the dust as she barely pulled her swords out of the ground.

"Raah!" Ameyuri yelled as she swung her swords upwards, trying to chop off both of Naruto's arms at the shoulder. Naruto, however, maneuvered his body and plunged the tip of the blade into Ameyuri's, piercing her heart.

For a moment all was still. Then, Ameyrui dropped her blades and hacked up blood, held up only by the fact that Naruto's hand was inside her chest.

"Huff, what a fight," Naruto panted.

"Huff, Huff. You've killed me." Ameyuri panted.

"Sorry about that," Naruto apologized, "Still, you gave me the best fight I've had yet. It was fun, Ameyuri Ringo."

Ameyuri coughed up more blood, "You…are one hell of man, Naruto Uzumaki. I wouldn't have minded, being on….the same…side." Those were Ameyuri's final words as she fell back and died, but Naruto caught her before she hit ground.

"I'm sure we both would have," Naruto whispered. He laid her gently on the ground.

Naruto gently removed his sword from Ameyuri's chest, flicked the blood off the blade. He summoned a new sheathe to replace the one he lost in the fight, and resheathed it.

**Later that night**

Naruto could be seen in front of the funeral pyre he had built for Ameyuri. He held up a torch as he stood next to Ameyuri's pyre.

"Rest in peace, Ameyuri Ringo." Naruto whispered as he placed the torch on her pyre, as the bodies slowly burned. He stood for the night, and tomorrow, would head out to Mist Village, to put an end to Yagura himself.

**Chapter End**


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